Why more Iranians played abroad in 1999-2000 than any other time?

[Paradigm]

I think during that late 1990's period we had about more than a dozen players in the European clubs specially in Germany. The number never surpassed that level ever since... What do you think are the reasons?

[maij]

I think during that late 1990's period we had about more than a dozen players in the European clubs specially in Germany. The number never surpassed that level ever since... What do you think are the reasons?

Interesting subject.

My views is as follows:

1- There has been limited outstanding footballers produced by Iran after the late 90's generation. Perhaps many good player, but not outstanding.

2- The majority of the Iranian players have had difficulty or failed to acclimatize with the tough demand of European football and that has hurt their reputation and prevented other contracts.

3- Poor communication and language problem is quite a big hurdle for Iranian players. Teymourian left to England with poor knowledge of English. While Daei , Kia and Nekounam who speak several languages prevailed.

4- The style and discipline of Iranian players is not compatible with top football standards.

In my views, I doubt that these problems will go away soon and we must not hold our breath in anticipation of a mass exodus of Iranian players to Europe in the next coming years.

It is regrettable to say the least.

While African players are ubiquitous in every league in Europe by thousands , even from countries such as Togo , Sierra Leon , Angola and Congo , not considered as African football powerhouses, Iran has a grand total of 6 players out of which only 3 are regular starters ( Neko and Shojaei ) in a bottom of the league team in La Liga , and Zandi in Cyprus league.

[TM-Fan]

One reason is also that the salary rates in the IPL have increased a lot during the recent years.


Many of our players in the 90's joined European lower leagues like German's second division, Greek, Austrian, Turkey or US leagues. These days they can stay in Iran or UAE and earn about the same amount, specially if we consider the high tax rates in the European countries.

[Essi]

One reason could be that we did a good World Cup in France. We hade a very intressting squad in all positions but there were not youngters. The problem is that we had our best team ever in German WC 2006 but got very bad results and we didnt performed well, hence the outcome. Nobody were intresting in our players. In France we did not get good results (Better than 06) but we performed better. Played better as a team.

[Doctor DOOM]

a MAJOR MAJOR reason for that was "HOW" we played at france 98.
I talk about QUALITY ... not just "appearing at the WC".

if you remember, we PLAYED WELL against yugoslavia and to a slightly lesser extent, the germans. we also won the game against usa.
the high profile Iran-australia fixture with its dramatic turn-out was very helpful as well.
that quality was the showcase for our players.
that quality was what was missing in the next WC we participated in , hence only 2 signings: nekounam and ando. .... at the time that europe was far more open to the idea of using asian players ( compared to a very restricted view of asian football back in 98 ).
otherwise, with european clubs opening their doors to asian footballers and using them in high profile leagues ( EPL, Serie-A, Bundesliga, ... ) and tournaments ( euro champs , eufa cup, ... ), had we performed as well as we had at france98, we'd have seen a multitude of our players signed at euro clubs.



So my verdict goes to the QUALITY of our performances in those years.

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as for the factor of talent, I must say if we compare the talent levels of france 98 team with that of WC 06, there isnt much of a difference.
in fact, some of our 06 players were more familiar with pro football and pro attitude and ... .

[Martin-Reza]

Good question. I think there were many factors.

One was the good World Cup performance. Another was the fact that all 3 Iranians in Germany had impressed in 1997/98. Then I think our players were cheaper than they are now (we had no pro league and I don't think UAE was paying as much as they do today).

So lots of Iranians were signed after 1998. When it then turned out many couldn't live up to the expectations due to several different reasons and we failed to qualify for WC 2002, lesser and lesser Iranians were signed.

[maij]

One more thing that could affect on the issue is that Many European Clubs have a good scouting system and they don't just depend on the World Cup every 4 years to recruit players or potential talents.

[Doctor DOOM]

One more thing that could affect on the issue is that Many European Clubs have a good scouting system and they don't just depend on the World Cup every 4 years to recruit players or potential talents.

I agree.
in recent years, with europe discovering asian football, they do look beyond the WC games. they send their scouts to asia for many international and continental games, like asian club or asia cup or asian games .... .

but as is evident, it is basically the high profile fixtures or tournaments that attract these scouts. very rarely do you see scouts discovering talent in asian league games, unless that player has shown well in high profile fixtures, which warrants further scrutiny.

[maij]

I agree.
in recent years, with europe discovering asian football, they do look beyond the WC games. they send their scouts to asia for many international and continental games, like asian club or asia cup or asian games .... .

but as is evident, it is basically the high profile fixtures or tournaments that attract these scouts. very rarely do you see scouts discovering talent in asian league games, unless that player has shown well in high profile fixtures, which warrants further scrutiny.

Peyman Jan...I met one scout in Dubai , out of all places , a few years back. An English Gentleman who shrouded himself in secrecy and would not indulge in any details except saying he is a football scout.

Obviously , he was not looking at any Iranian players , because none played in the English league. The French picked up several players from Qatar and UAE league , so I suppose they have their own scouts around as well.

[Mr.Good]

I guess the Europeans did not know how unprofessional most Iranian players are. from the 98 generation I can only see Daei and Kia and to some extent Bagheri cold be labeled successful. The rest of them turned out to be a big flop. Nowadays you see fewer players make it to Europe, but percentage wise there are more successful players.
Lets face it, the typical Iranian player is weak, lazy, and lacks football fundamentals. Maybe this is the reason most of them make it to the super slow UAE league from the slow IPL.

[Hajagha]

Two factors on my book:

1, They were spoiled by too much attention by Media and giving them false confidence.

2, They were redirected to UAE at young age before reaching the maturity and top of their games.

[Martin-Reza]

Another point we must not forget is Iranian managers and agents. I once read they were suddenly popping up like mushrooms after rain following the 1998 WC, everyone with a mobile phone suddenly tried to sell Iranian players. I think many were unprofessional and not trustworthy, so since most of them are probably now out of business and the trust in Iranian managers is not there anylonger, there of course are also less transfers now.

[Paradigm]

Is there a complete list of all the Iranians who played in Europe in the late 1990's? I know the usual ones, but admittedly some of the other ones flew under my radar or were forgotten for example Minavand and Yazdani playing in Belgium (if I recall correctly), or Musavi and Khatibi playing in Germany. Of course the next logical question is that what can be done to have more Iranians again play in the European clubs and actually come out successful?

[Doctor DOOM]

Is there a complete list of all the Iranians who played in Europe in the late 1990's? I know the usual ones, but admittedly some of the other ones flew under my radar or were forgotten for example Minavand and Yazdani playing in Belgium (if I recall correctly), or Musavi and Khatibi playing in Germany. Of course the next logical question is that what can be done to have more Iranians again play in the European clubs and actually come out successful?

apart from the more successful guys like daei, VH, kia, Rezaei , nekunam, shojaei, and to some extent ando, we've had :


1- yazdani's team was "charloit" ( and I think he played in Mousavi's Leverkusan, as well )
2- minavand did have at least 2 very good seasons ( and another 1 or 2 mediocre ones ) at strum graz ( austria ) , with consecutive champions league appearances
3- latifi and majidi ( vienna ) did have some playtime in austria
4- at one point hamburg had 3 iranians ( VH, khatibi, kia )
5- pashazadeh in a couple of austrian clubs
6- azizi at F C Cologne
7- bagheri at armenia bielefld ( won the lower div championship w them ) and charlston
8- kaabi in Leicester
9- kavianpoor, bakhtiarizadeh and Mo'meni in turkey ( hamed failed to do anything worthwhile and was deported. the latter two were not given their salaries and they left by themselves !! )
10- motevaselzadeh had some playing time in some obscure austrian club ( lower div ? )
11- Mansoorian at St. Pauli, Dinmohamadi in Meinz
12- Emamifar & Mahdavi in Charloit , belgium ( thanks to ali , below )
13- I think khakpoor also did play in turkey. one of those "XXXspors"
14- Samereh had a good start at Italy's Perugia, but fizzled out quickly !!
15-

cant remember anymore.
maybe later

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what SHOULD be done ( very different from what CAN be done ) ?

1- our players shd get more professional in ATTITUDE ... not only in their financial demands
2- they shd learn a foreign language. at least english, if nothing else
3- they shd learn to be more competitive and hardworking
4- they shd stop being "bacheh-naneh" and miss home or get home-sick after a couple of months

[Ali Chicago]

1- yazdani's team was "charloit" ( and I think he played in Leverkusan as well )
2- minavand did have at least 2 very good seasons ( and another 1 or 2 mediocre ones ) at strum graz ( austria ) , with consecutive champions league appearances
3- latifi and majidi ( vienna ) did have some playtime in austria
4- at one point hamburg had 3 iranians ( VH, khatibi, kia )
5- pashazadeh in a couple of austrian clubs
6- azizi at F C Cologne
7- bagheri at armenia bielefld ( won the lower div championship w them ) and charlston
8- kaabi
9- kavianpoor, bakhtiarizadeh and Mo'meni in turkey ( hamed failed to do anything worthwhile and was deported. the latter two were not given their salaries and they left by themselves !! )
10- motevaselzadeh had some playing time in some obscure austrian club ( lower div ? )
11-

cant remember anymore.
maybe later

==================

what SHOULD be done ( very different from what CAN be done ) ?

1- our players shd get more professional in ATTITUDE ... not only in their financial demands
2- they shd learn a foreign language. at least english, if nothing else
3- they shd learn to be more competitive and hardworking
4- they shd stop being "bacheh-naneh" and miss home or get home-sick after a couple of months

Yazdani and Emamifar and Mahdavi were later than 2000 in Charlrova. Motevasalzadeh in Admira was very recent too.
By Momeni I assume u are talking about Momenzadeh. Both Bakhtiari, Momenzadeh appearance to best of my recollection was very brief with a very low level team that didn't even pay them. So they took the rental car was given to them to Bazaargaan border and came back to Iran. That is how I remember it.

Khatibi had a brief appereace along with Hashemian but didn't last. Plus Pashazadeh in Bundesliga but that damn injury destroyed his career.

Kia is the most successful legioner to me. To a lesser degree Daie, Hasehmian, Karimi, Bagheri, Minavand, Pashazadeh and Cirus Dinmohamdai were ok as well.

Rest (Kavianpoor, Ali Mousavi, Khatibi, Kaabi) were utter failuer.